Before last week, I’d never set foot in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and although my sightseeing while inside city limits was minuscule, it did offer an opportunity to keep things fresh. My attendance at the No Fix Tour represented my 8th time seeing Underoath live, now in six different cities.

I say this as a biased fan, but also as someone who has now attended more concerts that I can easily recount: Underoath consistently puts on one of the best live performances on the planet. Their latest stop at Piere’s Entertainment Center, a relatively nondescript mid-sized venue in the middle of Indiana, was still cause for wonder and respect, even after all these years.

Underoath

Even aside from my own fan-boy outpouring, the spectacle of Underoath’s live performance is well documented. What often seems to go unspoken is their ability to stack the bill. Over the years, I’ve seen Underoath bring along bands like As Cities Burn, Every Time I Die, mewithoutYou, letlive., Saosin, The Devil Wears Prada, and the list goes on. The build-up to the main event is always worth watching.

The No Fix Tour once again provides a fresh group of faces for Underoath fans. Limbs, Veil of Maya, and Dance Gavin Dance all provide a worthy warm-up for heavy music fans with a diverse set of sounds. The early rounds are truly won by Dance Gavin Dance, a band in the midst of their own renaissance, ready to drop a new album this year as they roar into their second decade.

Yet, once again, Underoath has a way of making the lead-up feel pedestrian as they take the stage to flashing lights, shadowy synthesizers, and scattered images flashing across the screen behind them. When Spencer Chamberlain takes the mic, unleashing the opening screams of “On My Teeth”, pandemonium ensues.

Underoath

What makes this latest trek for Underoath so exciting is the potential for exploration. The band’s Rebirth Tour focused on two albums from 2004 and 2006, while this current tour celebrates the release of Erase Me while still making room for tracks from other albums like Lost in the Sound of Separation and Ø (Disambiguation). The night is structured around new tracks, but is littered with fan favorites and unsung tracks from the past.

For a band so tied to the nostalgic memories of fans, it’s a treat to watch the crowd sing along to new songs like “Rapture”, “No Frame” and “Bloodlust”. Even unexpected performances of tracks like “A Moment Suspended in Time” and “Paper Lung” elicit delight from the crowd. For a band with such a deep well of diverse tracks to draw from, it makes every performance fresh and exciting, no matter how many shows you’ve attended.

While it’s true that golden oldies like “Writing on the Walls” and “Reinventing Your Exit” still steal the show, there’s no denying that this new incarnation of Underoath is moving forward. Their shows consist of polite nods to the past coupled with a renewed energy to expand their sound and their audience – all while playing with a sense of urgency that is unmatched by their peers. I don’t know about you, but I think it’s going to be a while before I tire of seeing Underoath live.

Underoath

Dance Gavin Dance

Dance Gavin Dance

Underoath

Underoath

Underoath

Dance Gavin Dance

Underoath

Veil of Maya

by Kiel Hauck

Underoath

Dance Gavin Dance

Underoath

Dance Gavin Dance

Dance Gavin Dance

Underoath

Underoath

Underoath

Veil of Maya

Kiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple online and print publications and was most recently an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Underoath is back on the road in support of their first album in eight years, Erase Me. Kiel Hauck caught up with Chris Dudley, master of keyboards, electronics, and synthesizers for the band, to discuss Underoath’s return. During the conversation, Dudley shares how the band rebounded from their break-up, rekindled their friendships, and the peace they’ve found in creating the music they want to make. Listen in!

Underoath, appearing in Chicago for a secret show to celebrate the release of their new album,Erase Me, brought with them a day of sacrifice. Freezing temperatures and strong winds mocked those waiting outside The Subterranean for hours for one of the few entrance wristbands, and then again later in the evening just to get inside. However, the effort to make it was rewarded with a short, intimate set with the band that couldn’t have happened any other way.

Small, dark and doing its best to look like a basement, The Subterranean is a small venue. The stage rises just above the crowd and leaves little room between the performers and their fans. It is a perfect venue for cutting out the negative space as much as possible. For those in attendance, it was hard earned.

“I got here around eleven this morning to get a wristband, and the line was already back here,” one guy said as he pointed to the entrance of a Starbucks down the street from the venue. A particularly cold gust of wind caught everyone off guard, but he just shook his head at us. “It was colder this morning.”

For all of their effort, Underoath appeared and rewarded the crowd of 200 with a short, brutal set. With the audience leaning directly on the stage, vocalist Spencer Chamberlain figuratively, and then literally, stood on top of them.

The secret show was a reward for the diehards. Starting with “On My Teeth”, the 40-minute set traded singles off of Erase Me (“Rapture”, “No Frame”) with some of the most popular songs of old. Announced as dedication for their older fans, Underoath jumped straight into “It’s Dangerous Business Walking Out Your Front Door” and “Reinventing Your Exit”. “Writing on the Walls”, the only song from Define the Great Line closed out the evening.

Keyboardist Christopher Dudley traded smiles with the crowd. Guitarists Timothy McTague, Grant Brandell and James Smith bounded with what limited movement they could muster on the tiny stage. Aaron Gillespie, hidden in dark and masked with fog and shining lights threw all of his energy into decimating the drumset.

Short, sweet chaos.

For fans, spending the day waiting was worth it. Everyone seemed abuzz with how amazing it had been, all whispers of the cold long forgotten. “I waited 15 years to finally see them,” said one person waiting to retrieve their coat, “I can’t imagine a better way to have seen them for the first time.”

There is an excitement that swallows fans when a band reunites that wraps them in nostalgia. But the energy that follows a new release is something else entirely. If the excitement they showed Chicago to be in full motion once again is any indication, the future of Underoath is promising a lot of great things to come.

by Kyle Schultz

Kyle Schultz is the Senior Editor at It’s All Dead and has worked as a gaming journalist at Structure Gaming. He lives in Chicago and got into a Secret show. He is officially cool. Don’t take that away from him…. Please?

The best part about watching the weekly episodes of “A Work in Progress”, the recent studio documentary from Underoath, is seeing the members of the band together again: smiling, dialoguing, creating. It’s a sight that’s easy to take for granted given the amount of music the band has delivered in their two decades of existence and how close they came to a full-on collapse, but upon their long-awaited return, it feels important to appreciate every detail.

It’s been eight years since the Tampa, Florida, post-hardcore act delivered Ø (Disambiguation), which could easily have been perceived as their swan song. In the years since its release, the band has broken up, reunited, rekindled fractured friendships, battled with lost faith, and quietly crafted an album that no one saw coming. Across these 11 new tracks, you can feel every pulse and beat of that conflict and the relief that has come on the other side.

Erase Me is like no other Underoath album you’ve heard and very well may lose some long-time listeners upon first spin. But that would be a shame, because the album itself, like every release from the band, is a delineation of forward motion – yet another new take on the sound of a band that still refuses to be pigeonholed or confined to a genre.

In a way, early singles “On My Teeth” and “Rapture” are red herrings, respectively serving as a nod to the band’s roots and a clear model of an accessibility that has always been present beneath the surface. Truthfully, Erase Me largely lives somewhere in between, enveloping a gray area that has long been Underoath’s greatest strength. Thus, it’s quite difficult to put a label on it. You’ll find elements of alternative, industrial, and experimental sprinkled within.

Album opener “It Has to Start Somewhere” is an urgent allusion to both internal and external conflict, as Spencer Chamberlain howls atop rolling guitars, “If my tongue is the blade / Your hand is the gun / One of us ain’t going home tonight”. A sudden cut to a bedrock of programmed drums and electronic distortion, courtesy of Chris Dudley, finds Aaron Gillespie crooning, “This is what fear tastes like / Go ahead and make me numb”. It’s a moment that feels familiar and fresh – a reminder of how Underoath can make such a subtle moment feel so special.

These twists and turns pervade Erase Me, but unlike past efforts like Define the Great Line or Lost in the Sound of Separation, the band embraces choruses and melody. You can sing along to these tracks and simultaneously feel challenged. It’s a fine line to walk, and one that has been tested by others in recent years, but hasn’t felt perfected until now. The haunting synthesizers and soaring guitars behind “Wake Me” harken the band’s heavy tendencies even though Chamberlain never unleashes a scream.

The same can be said of “In Motion”, which finds Chamberlain and Gillespie sharing a call-and-response chorus that feels at once recognizable and like nothing else you’ve ever heard from the band. Keeping with the trend, Chamberlain’s closing cry of “There is no fix” offers a response to his questioning scream of “Where is my fix?” on “A Divine Eradication” eight years earlier. “Bloodlust” and “ihateit” lean hard into the band’s new melodic tendencies, offering catchy hooks atop complex, layered tracks that provide new sonic surprises upon repeated listens.

Yet for all of the discussion that will certainly surround the band’s new music, a greater conversation lies within the narrative. You’ve likely already seen headlines such as, “How Losing Religion Saved Underoath” or “’Christianity Ruined My Life’”, and while these flashy quotes allude to a very real thematic shift, they do little to do justice to the struggle involved in untangling one’s ties to religion. When all is said and done and Erase Me’s final notes have faded, this body of work serves the conversation well, but maybe not quite in the way you’d expect.

As with so many of Underoath’s albums, Erase Me is fraught with an internal existential dialogue that cries out for answers, many of which receive silence in return. It draws an interesting parallel – Underoath, at least in terms of their musical output, has never been a band to dwell on hard truths. Even at the height of the band’s popularity within Christian circles, it always felt like there was shifting sand below.

On “Sink with Me”, Chamberlain sings, “Hold me underneath the cold moonlight / Where I believe every lie you told to me / Tell me once more that I’m safe / I never believed so give me faith”. Juxtapose those words with lines from 2006’s “Everyone Looks So Good From Here” and you’ll find a common thread: “In a deep breath it all starts to change / Flip my world inside out / Honestly I like it better this way / When I mesh the night through the back of my eyes”.

Timeless narratives speak truth in our lives, but those truths can also evolve. As time and experience change our perspective, old words speak to us in new ways, which is why the songs from Define the Great Line still mean the world to me 12 years later, even though my worldview has shifted. It’s also why Chamberlain’s journey across the 11 tracks of Erase Me will speak volumes to others climbing from the wreckage of their own collapsed constructs. Solid ground has never suited them well, which is why Erase Me feels just about as honest as any work they’ve put forth, even if the general message is largely the same.

As the album winds to a close, “No Frame” offers a signature industrial, electronic Underoath audial experience, courtesy of Dudley. Chamberlain’s final words on the track stand out amidst the existential chaos: “Well I belong right here / Where the light runs from me / I don’t believe in fear / ‘Cause this place can’t haunt me”. It’s a poignant and potent message for our time – one of inclusion. No matter your age, your race, your sexual orientation, your belief system – you belong, regardless of where the light runs.

The members of Underoath claim to be the healthiest they’ve ever been as a band, creating their most honest work to date. Take that for what you will, but it’s hard to discount their conviction. To profess it all atop yet another sharp sonic turn that is sure to leave their fan base off-balance is just about the most Underoath thing they could have done. Don’t like the new sound? Give it time. This album is meant to be chewed on. And if you’re a fan of Underoath, that’s likely why their music means so much to you in the first place.

4.5/5

by Kiel Hauck

Kiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple online and print publications and was most recently an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

During a recent conversation with a friend, I lamented how age has impacted my passion for music. It’s not that I don’t love music anymore, it’s just that my youthful enthusiasm has faded with time. The days of pushing to the front of the stage at packed concert venues or growing giddy with excitement about an upcoming release have passed. These days, it’s a much more patient and reserved kind of love.

Or so I thought.

If you haven’t heard, my favorite band is releasing their first new album in eight years. Underoath is that band for me – the band that changed the way I looked at and thought about music. Since their 2015 reunion, I’ve avoided the slightest notion that they might make their way to the studio, mostly because it feels healthier to avoid wild, unwarranted speculation and simply enjoy the music we were given during their heyday.

Last week, we got our first taste of what the next chapter of Underoath will sound like with the release of “On My Teeth”. It’s been interesting to watch discussion unfold across online forums as fans absorb news of the band’s return. What I’ve found most intriguing are posts pining for the band to return to the sound of their personal favorite album, whichever that may be, and choices tend to vary.

What these kinds of discussions fail to acknowledge is the very thing that made Underoath one of the most revered and inventive bands in post-hardcore. With every release, the band managed to shapeshift in such a way as to push genre boundaries and test new waters. The result of this approach is a full catalogue of classic albums, each distinct in sound and voice.

I’ve certainly got my favorites – Define the Great Line standing at the front of the pack – but I still hold each album with esteem. In fact, I’m a firm believer that Underoath improved as a unit with each and every release, with Ø (Disambiguation) standing as the band’s greatest feat. While this seems to be a prevailing opinion among many, it seems odd that anyone would want the band to deviate from what has made them so beloved.

Can you imagine the 2018 version of Underoath releasing an album akin to They’re Only Chasing Safety? Furthermore, can you imagine enjoying it? On April 6, Erase Me will unfold as something new and something fresh. While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea upon first listen, there’s little doubt in my mind that it will be another standalone record that showcases the band’s growth and desire to forge ahead.

Personally, I’m excited to hear the band battle their demons (figuratively and literally), wrestling through the fallout with their religious affiliations. Perhaps no band in recent memory has so openly discussed their inner turmoil and the strength it takes to fight for your friendships. That honesty is something that sets Underoath apart, and it’s something that certainly must have served them well during the writing of this album.

Whatever comes, we fortunately won’t have long to wait. Until April 6, my friends will continue to politely nod and smile as I ramble on about the band’s discography and explain how they re-defined a genre. If I’m lucky, they’ll even stick around to hear me gush about Erase Me well into the summer. I feel giddy again. And I like it.

by Kiel Hauck

Kiel Hauck is the editor in chief at It’s All Dead. Over the past decade, he has been a contributor for multiple online and print publications and was most recently an editor at PopMatters. Kiel currently resides in Indianapolis, IN with his wife and their imaginary pet, Hand Dog. You can follow him on Twitter.

Just as we (and everyone else) began speculating, the return of Underoath (with original drummer Aaron Gillespie) is upon us. The Florida post-hardcore act has signed to Fearless Records and will release their first full-length album in eight years on April 6. Preorder packages for Erase Me are now available on the band’s website.

In addition to the announcement, the band has also released the first single from Erase Me titled, “On My Teeth”. You can watch the music video for the new track below, which includes an introduction from the band for Erase Me. Take a look:

Additionally, in a press release this afternoon, Aaron Gillespie provided insight into the band’s return and their approach to creating a new album:

“We’ve had success and we’ve come through a lot of waters. “There’s been 11,000 things we’ve been through so you would think, almost rhetorically, ‘What do you need now?’ All of us are finally in that place in our lives where the only thing we care about is inclusion for everybody—for the world. For me, exclusion is the scariest thing in the world. And I think Underoath coming back now with a new record—which none of us thought was possible—we want people to know that this is your music and you can feel however the fuck you want about it. I just want to prove that we are doing everything in the most honest way we ever have. This is the healthiest we’ve ever been as a group of people, as musicians, and in our worldview.”

Underoath reunited in 2015 for the Rebirth Tour – a trek that saw the band play fan favorite albums like They’re Only Chasing Safety and Define the Great Line in their entirety. Since the reunion, the band has played select festivals as fans speculated on the possibility of new music. It looks like we’ve finally got our answer. Welcome back, Underoath.

Yesterday, a cryptic website emerged with a 30-second audio clip and a countdown that can be revealed by brushing away the text “ERASE ME”. Some fans received a CD in the mail with the same audio clip and billboards with the “ERASE ME” text began popping up in a few cities.

Some quick internet detective work revealed who appears to be behind the mystery: Underoath. The Florida metalcore giants are suspected to release a new single tomorrow afternoon with a forthcoming album, Erase Me, projected to release this spring.

After reuniting in 2015 for a tour, the band has been playing select festivals around the country but has not given much information about the possibility of releasing new music. Nevertheless, it felt like only a matter of time before the sextet returned to the studio to record a proper follow up to 2010’s Ø (Disambiguation).